Archive for June 10, 2011

A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey, carrying Defense Secretary Robert Gates, flies over a Forward Operating Base in Afghanistan. As the tiltrotor helicopter approaches the base, the crewman mans what appears to be a 240 Gulf heavy machine gun on the back of the Osprey. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you’ll see how big and well stocked the base is. the watchtowers, reinforced Hesco barriers and rows of cargo shipping containers make the base look like a surreal cross between a Roman legion’s camp and the cargo area of a modern airport.

Gates made several trips to forward bases — this one occupied by Marines — during his farewell tour. The Defense Secretary is slated to step down next month.

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During the last week of May, commencement exercises were held at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Here’s a snapshot of the time-honored ceremonies as well as the joy — and relief — expressed by some of the hardest-working college students in America.

Cadets congratulate one another during commencement ceremonies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., (Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley)

While several generals have been elected president of the United States, only two — Ulysses S. Grant (Class of 1843) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (Class of 1915) — were West Point grads. The presidents of at least two other countries — including Jefferson Davis (Class of 1828) — went there.

This year West Point graduated 1,031 second lieutenants — including 16 combat veterans.

Click here to see a Defense Department photo essay on the Military Academy graduation.

The Naval Academy has 1,006 graduates, including 800 men and 206 women, in 2011. Of those 1,006, 260 were commissioned as Marines.

While one of the oldest armed services, the Marine Corps does not have its own four-year academy for training officers. Instead, cadets at the Naval Academy can elect to take Marine Corps commissions. After graduation at Annapolis, they are shipped off to The Basic School at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

Newly commissioned second lieutenants celebrate at the end of the Air Force Academy's graduation ceremony. (U.S. Air Force photo by Mike Kaplan)

The newestt service academy is the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 1955, the Air Force Academy is famous for the modern architecture of its chapel and its football teams (check out the bowl game banners hanging in Falcon Stadium on the left side of the photo). This year the academy graduated 1,021 officers. The Class of 2011 was also the first to earn wings for remotely piloted aircraft.

If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you will see among the flying hats, the F-16 Fighting Falcons of the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s precision aerial demonstration team.